Oleoylethanolamide attenuates the stress-mediated potentiation of rewarding properties of cocaine associated with an increased TLR4 proinflammatory response

Abstract

The lipid-derived messenger oleoylethanolamide (OEA) has been involved in multiple physiological functions including metabolism and the immune response. More recently, OEA has been observed to affect reward-related behavior. Stress is a major risk factor for drug use and a predictor of drug relapse. In the laboratory, social stress has been largely studied using the social defeat (SD) model. Here, we explored the effects of different OEA administration schedules on the increased rewarding properties of cocaine induced by SD. In addition, we evaluated the anti-inflammatory action of OEA pretreatment in TLR4 expression caused by SD in the cerebellum, a novel brain structure that has been involved in the development of cocaine addiction. Adult OF1 mice were assigned to an experimental group according to the stress condition (exploration or SD) and treatment (OEA before SD, OEA before conditioning or subchronic OEA treatment). Mice were administered with OEA i.p (10 mg/kg) 10 min previously to the corresponding event. Three weeks after the last SD encounter, conditioned place preference (CPP) was induced by a subthreshold cocaine dose (1 mg/kg). As expected, socially defeated mice presented greater vulnerability to the cocaine reinforcing effects and expressed CPP. Conversely, this effect was not observed under a non-stressed condition. Most importantly, we observed that OEA pretreatment before SD or before conditioning prevented cocaine CPP in defeated mice. Biochemical analysis showed that OEA administration before SD decreased proinflammatory TLR4 upregulation in the cerebellum caused by social stress. In summary, our results suggest that OEA may have a protective effect on stress-induced increased cocaine sensitivity by exerting an anti-inflammatory action.